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THE USE OF 



STEARIN 



AS A FOOD PRESERVATIVE 



BY 



EDWARD T. WILLIAMS, M. D. 



125 DUDLEY STREET, ROXBURY 

BOSTON 

1906 



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7 Mr'08 



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THE USE OF STEARIN AS A FOOD 
PRESERVATIVE. 



By Edward T. Williams, M. D. 



The permanent preservation of food substances is one of 
the oldest arts. Dried vegetables, fruits and meats like hay, 
grain, peas, beans, raisins, figs, dried herbs, dried beef and 
the like were in common use among the ancients. Salted 
meats, fish, and pickles were also well known to them. 
Among the Greeks and Romans the preservation of meat in 
the form of sausages was a familiar art. The Greek words 
aWas and <j>va-/co<; y Latin botulus and botellus (English bowel 
and bottle), give full proof of this fact. They were the 
common words for sausages in the classic tongues. The 
meats so used were thoroughly cooked (which as we now 
know was simply for the purpose of freeing them from putre- 
factive germs), hashed up, and stuffed into sausage skins, by 
means of which they were fairly well protected from air and 
moisture and made capable of preservation for a considerable 
time. The modern method of preserving meats and vege- 
tables in tin cans and sealed jars is only a later development 
of the sausage industry. 



4 THE USE OF STEARIN AS A FOOD PRESERVATIVE. 

The art of canning derived its first impetus from a French- 
man, Francois Appert, about the beginning of the last 
century. The theory that organic decomposition was caused 
by putrefactive germs from the air, earth, and water origi- 
nated with Anastasius Kircher, a German priest (1601-1680), 
and Spallanzani, an Italian Savan (1729-1798). Kircher 
fathered the idea, Spallanzani supported it by his ingenious 
experiments, Pasteur (1822-1895) established it on a strictly 
scientific basis. Appert, however, who preceded Pasteur by 
fully half a century, taking his hint from the investigations 
of Spallanzani was the real inventor of the canning art, which 
he patented, and which remains essentially unchanged to the 
present time. Yet the foods preserved by this process were 
never entirely satisfactory, there is too much chance for the 
admission of air and moisture, hence most manufacturers are 
obliged to add chemical agents to prevent putrefaction, which 
are not only injurious to the health but often fail to accom- 
plish their purpose. This was fully proved in the Cuban 
War. 

The advantage of fatty substances as preservatives for 
animal products has been long known, though not covered by 
Appert's long expired patents. Goose liver pie and pem- 
mican are good examples of such preserves. Pemmican is 
composed of dried and powdered beef combined with equal 
parts of beef tallow. It has long been known as a nutritious 
food for Arctic explorers, though it cannot be made available 
in warm or even temperate climates for two reasons. First, 
the amount of fat present (50 per cent) is too great for the 
digestion of any one but an Arctic voyager. Second, the low 



THE USE OF STEARIN AS A FOOD PRESERVATIVE. 5 

melting point of beef tallow (105° F. to 110° F.) causes it to 
soften and grow rancid in temperate climates, and thus 
renders it more liable to decomposition. 

About a year since it occurred to me to try a new pre- 
servative which should have all the advantages of tallow 
without its drawbacks. It struck me that if I could mix 
together tallow (or any of the softer fats, animal or vegetable) 
with a less fusible fat, like stearin, I might obtain a com- 
pound which would resist all natural temperatures without 
melting. The melting point of stearin is about 140° F. I 
found that by mixing stearin under heat with a softer fat 
like tallow, in about equal proportions, I could produce a 
fatty compound which would stand a temperature of 115° F. 
to 120° F. without melting, and consequently would keep 
unchanged even in tropical climates. In testing this com- 
pound as a preservative for animal hash I found it unneces- 
sary to add more than one part of melted fat to nine parts of 
hash, which when cooled forms a solid cake impervious to air 
and moisture and capable of permanent preservation. I 
found the process could be applied to every sort of animal 
tissue or matter, like flesh, fish, fowl, eggs, livers, brains and 
spleens. The only point is that both fat and tissue must be 
perfectly sterilized by heat and packed immediately into 
sterilized cans to avoid all farther contact with putrefactive 
germs. I have specimens on hand put up nearly a year ago 
and since subjected to the severest tests without deteriora- 
tion. This invention, as I believe, is destined to produce a 
total revolution in the canning industry so far as relates to 
the preservation of animal tissue or matter. It admits of no 



6 THE USE OF STEARIN AS A FOOD PRESERVATIVE. 

improvement, since the only possible substitutes for stearin, 
viz. : paraffine, wax and spermaceti are all incapable of diges- 
tion and would doubtless be prohibited by law as deleterious 
ingredients in any sort of food compound. 

It is only fair to addr that these compounds are fully 
protected by letters patent and cannot be lawfully infringed 
upon. 



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